Arrival in Istanbul

After an eight and a half hour flight from the Twin Cities, and a five-hour layover in Amsterdam, we boarded our KLM-blue 737 for Istanbul.

Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam

Blue Mosque

Kahir, an earnest 23-year-old, met us at the Istanbul arrival hall. He apologized for the hand-lettered sign; he had not had time to stop by the office to get a printed one. His sign had our names legibly written on it, so what did we care?

We drove down National Boulevard, which was lined with tulips, pansies, white daisies and grape hyacinth. The weather was perfect - clear sky and about 50 degrees.We drove into the Sultanahmet neighborhood and could clearly see the Blue Mosque on the left side of the car.

Hagia Sophia

Our hotel, the Ottoman Imperial Hotel, is literally right across the street from the Hagia Sophia, the domed church built by the Emperor Justinian in the 6th century. This photo of the Hagia Sophia was taken from our hotel window. When Mehmet II conquered Constantinople in 1453, he converted Hagia Sophia into a mosque. Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, converted it into a museum, which it remains today. However, the call to prayer still resounded from its minarets at 9:30 p.m. when we returned to our rooms from dinner. Yes, Sarah and Mark had arrived at 7:00 p.m., about an hour after us. We had a great dinner of eggplant, quail, lamb and chicken kebabs and toasted being in Istanbul together.